Until Dawn preview – cabin in the woods

Considering the survival horror genre has been declared clinically dead for most of the current generation of consoles, it was looking surprisingly healthy at Gamecom this week. Appropriately enough death cannot stop its progress and all three of the games we’ve previewed today (this, The Walking Dead Video Game, and ZombiU) can make a decent claim to be part of the genre.

Until Dawn is the most unusual of the three though, a homage to (but not a parody of) teen slasher movies it’s a rare mature-rated retail game which requires the PlayStation Move motion controller to work. When it was first announced at Sony’s Gamescom press conference on Tuesday it wasn’t really clear what it was or how it worked, but having had a good half hour played at us it’s definitely not the (barely) interactive movie we initially took it to be.

The set-up is classic cabin in the woods territory, with a group of horny teenagers taking a trip to a remote mountain retreat that belongs to one of the group’s rich parents. The game’s script is by a ‘Hollywood writer’ that for some reason devleoper Supermassive Games won’t yet reveal, and nor will they say who the ‘TV actors’ are providing the voices (although we’re pretty sure the girl in the demo is Lollipop Chainsaw/Twilight Sparkle star Tara Strong).

The dialogue is cheesier than a box of Dairylea, but then that’s entirely in keeping with the movies it’s been inspired by. The section we watch is from chapter three (which seems odd as it appears to be the first sign of trouble, so we’re not sure what went on in the first two) and starts with a couple being ‘sexiled’ to a separate cabin so they can go about their pre-marital sin in private.

This involves a long walk through a snow driven forest, one that is rendered in impressive and atmospheric detail. As the wind whips about the pair and giant fir trees loom menacingly in every direction the tone is immediately menacing, even though we’re sitting in an air-conditioned room with a dozen other foreign journalists watching the developer play the game.

Since the guy playing knows where they’re going there’s little deviation from the path but we’re shown how the control system is focused around a torch that the characters swap between them, the beam directing where you look and a single button moving you forward. Without having a go ourselves we can’t say how accurate it is but not once is there any sign that the developer has trouble looking or moving where they want to.

Although you do get a gun at the end of the chapter there doesn’t seem to be much traditional combat in the game, but instead lots of light puzzle solving. The first involves turning on a generator to open an electronic gate, which doesn’t require much brain power – just a lot of motion-controlled tilting and scanning of the environment (interactive objects glow briefly if you press a button).

The game is quite brave in how much time it gives to establish the mood. The walk to the other cabin is long, with little to really do except point forwards and walk. That and listen to the two prattle on about nothing in particular, and make lewd comments such as the girl’s concern that ‘It’s so cold my tongue will get stuck to your flagpole’.

Classy stuff, but exactly how it should be given the game’s inspiration. Eventually things get more ominous with the boy briefly mentioning that the area used to be heavily populated by Native Americans, and the pair coming across what seems to be bear marks on a tree.

It’s not clear from the demo whether the threat is supernatural or not, but in an abandoned mine shaft there’s a reference to ‘ancient writing’ and the two are repeatedly stalked from a first person view reminiscent of the Friday the 13th movies.

But it’s all a pretty slow burn, with the girl at one point hiding from her boyfriend in order to initiate the first in what seems to be a long series of jump scares. Soon after this they witness a recently killed stag being dragged off into the woods by persons or creatures unknown. Although once they barricade themselves inside the cabin they’re heading towards they immediately start getting down to business anyway, and you’re invited to undress the girl using motion controls on her zip.

Before anything can happen though she’s dragged backwards through the door window she’s standing by and is dragged off in her undies back towards the mine. Despite what seems like buckets of blood outside, once you find the body it appears oddly un-mutilated and there’s a disappointing lack of gore as the demo ends with the boyfriend being rushed by the unseen stalker.

In the Q&A that follows we ask about the apparently timid levels of violence and nudity, and are told the game is aiming for a 16 certificate, which seems desperately disappointing to us given the sorts of movies it’s trying to emulate.

We also voice concern over the apparent linearity of the game and the dangers of boredom if anyone gets stuck on a puzzle or is unsure where to go. This we’re told is not a problem as the game’s testing has involved monitoring playtesters’ galvanic skin responses, to see whether and for how long they’re scared.

There certainly seem to be a lot of pretty effective jump scares in the game, but whether it’ll get under your skin in the way that true survival horror games do – or if it’ll instead remain as dumb and superficial as its protagonists – we’ll have to wait until next year to find out.